Basal cell carcinoma: 10-year experience with electrochemotherapy

Table 1 Patient characteristics (N = 84)

Characteristics	N (%) or median (range)
Sex
Male/female	53 (63)/31 (37)
Age (years)	69 (24–89)
Comorbidities^a (n)	2 (0–6)
Performance status (ECOG)	2 (0–3)
Location of BCC
Head and neck	52 (62)
Trunk	23 (27)
Limbs	9 (11)
Risk of tumor location
High^b	19 (23)
Intermediate^c	33 (39)
Low^d	32 (38)
Involvement of multiple anatomical sites
Yes/no	20 (24)/64 (76)
TNM
T1	33 (39)
T2^b	49 (58)
T3	2 (2)
Tumor size
≤3 cm/>3 cm	52 (62)/32 (38)
Presentation
Primary/recurrent	42 (50)/42 (50)
Disease extent
Local	40 (48)
Locally-advanced	41 (49)
Metastatic	3 (3)
Histotype
Aggressive/non-aggressive^c	15 (18)/69 (82)
Margins^e
Defined/ill-defined	64 (76)/20 (24)
Ulceration
Yes/no	42 (50)/42 (50)
Bleeding
Yes/no	11 (13)/73 (87)
Distant metastases
Yes/no	3 (4)/81 (96)
Need of dressings
Yes/no	35 (42)/49 (58)
Previous treatments
Surgical excision	39 (46)
Radiotherapy	20 (24)
Systemic^d	6 (7)
Other dermatologic treatments^f	8 (9)
Contraindications to surgery
None	30 (36)
Multiple recurrences	11 (13)
Expected morbidity	43 (51)
Contraindications to radiotherapy
None	23 (27)
Previous radiotherapy	19 (23)
Radiotherapy inappropriate	42 (50)

^aComorbidities were grouped into the following categories: vascular disease (n = 48, 57.1%); cancer, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer (n = 46, 54.8%), endocrine (n = 25, 29.8%), renal (n = 16, 19.0%), neurologic (n = 9, 10.8%), cardiac (n = 9, 10.8%), hepatic (n = 8, 9.5%), lung (n = 8, 9.5%), gastrointestinal (n = 7, 8.3%); one patient had xeroderma pigmentosum
^bT2a (n = 32), T2b (n = 17)
^cAggressive histotypes included infiltrative and morpheiform BCC; non-aggressive histotypes included superficial and nodular BCC
^dVismodegib
^eThe classification was dependent upon the surgeon’s judgment. The BCCs with well-defined borders were those lesions for which the trajectory of a hypothetical surgical incision could unequivocally be individuated. All the other BCCs, in which clinical margins were difficult to distinguish from uninvolved skin were included in the ill-defined margins group (e.g. absence of uniform, well-raised borders, some pigmented BCCs, and some morpheaform BCCs, along with some BCCs previously managed with local treatments)
^fCryotherapy (n = 5), PDT (n = 2), imiquimod (n = 1)

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